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How to spot a rip current and how to survive a rip current videos!
Rip Currents:
A rip current, more erroneously and commonly known as a rip tide or an undertow, is a very strong current of water that runs perpendicular to the beach and extends towards the ocean in varying lengths up to more than 2,500 feet. Although rip currents are very long, they are normally not very wide, approximately 30 feet. Rip currents are strong and can travel approximately five to ten miles per hour (Harris 1).
Rip currents are formed because of the ever changing formation of the shoreline. The formation of a rip current takes very little time to form and often catches swimmers unaware which leads to many deaths each year. Rip currents form primarily on the surface of the water; however, in shallow water levels it has the appearance and acts like an undertow. A rip current will quickly bring whatever it catches straight out into the ocean.
Normally, the ocean’s water is pushed along by external forces like wind to create swells that move along the surface of the ocean, building energy as it moves. Waves are formed and ultimately come in contact with a shoreline. A gently sloping shoreline will easily disburse the water molecule’s energy as it travels up the slope and then back down the slope to reach its own level. A rocky shoreline disburses the water molecule’s energy as it crashes into the shoreline. The disbursed energy causes the water to gently flow back to the ocean with less force than the incoming waves (Harris 3).
The conditions that cause a rip current to form are created when the receding water is forced into a concentrated area. The most common cause for this concentration of water is attributed to a break in a sandbar. The motion of incoming and outgoing waves and tides form long and narrow stretches of sand that form along the coastline. Between the sandbar and shore line a “basin” of water is formed. The incoming waves move easily over the sandbar; however, the outgoing water has a harder time of receding over the sandbar which creates an accumulation of force in the “basin” of water as it travels along the sandbar. When the receding water finally finds an outlet, such as a break or a low point in a sandbar, it will “rush out to sea” creating a rip current (Harris 12).
The area with the greatest force of a rip current is the direct line that exists between the edge of water and the opening in a sandbar; however, there is still horizontal movement along the sandbar. The receding rush of water through the opening in the sandbar loses its energy once the water finds its own level beyond the sandbar (Harris 14). Beyond the breaking waves, a “narrow, muddy streak” of water will indicate the presence of a rip current as it agitates the sea floor when receding back into the ocean and into the incoming waves (Harris 15).
Most injuries, and deaths, occur from a rip current when swimmers panic and thrash around in the water trying to fight the flow of the rip current. Successful navigation of a rip current occurs when a swimmer remains calm and swims parallel to the beach, through the narrowest part of the rip current. Once out of the rip current, turn and head for the shoreline and safety. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/akq/rip/Image2.gif
How to spot a rip current and how to survive a rip current videos!
Rip Currents:
A rip current, more erroneously and commonly known as a rip tide or an undertow, is a very strong current of water that runs perpendicular to the beach and extends towards the ocean in varying lengths up to more than 2,500 feet. Although rip currents are very long, they are normally not very wide, approximately 30 feet. Rip currents are strong and can travel approximately five to ten miles per hour (Harris 1).
Rip currents are formed because of the ever changing formation of the shoreline. The formation of a rip current takes very little time to form and often catches swimmers unaware which leads to many deaths each year. Rip currents form primarily on the surface of the water; however, in shallow water levels it has the appearance and acts like an undertow. A rip current will quickly bring whatever it catches straight out into the ocean.
Normally, the ocean’s water is pushed along by external forces like wind to create swells that move along the surface of the ocean, building energy as it moves. Waves are formed and ultimately come in contact with a shoreline. A gently sloping shoreline will easily disburse the water molecule’s energy as it travels up the slope and then back down the slope to reach its own level. A rocky shoreline disburses the water molecule’s energy as it crashes into the shoreline. The disbursed energy causes the water to gently flow back to the ocean with less force than the incoming waves (Harris 3).
The conditions that cause a rip current to form are created when the receding water is forced into a concentrated area. The most common cause for this concentration of water is attributed to a break in a sandbar. The motion of incoming and outgoing waves and tides form long and narrow stretches of sand that form along the coastline. Between the sandbar and shore line a “basin” of water is formed. The incoming waves move easily over the sandbar; however, the outgoing water has a harder time of receding over the sandbar which creates an accumulation of force in the “basin” of water as it travels along the sandbar. When the receding water finally finds an outlet, such as a break or a low point in a sandbar, it will “rush out to sea” creating a rip current (Harris 12).
The area with the greatest force of a rip current is the direct line that exists between the edge of water and the opening in a sandbar; however, there is still horizontal movement along the sandbar. The receding rush of water through the opening in the sandbar loses its energy once the water finds its own level beyond the sandbar (Harris 14). Beyond the breaking waves, a “narrow, muddy streak” of water will indicate the presence of a rip current as it agitates the sea floor when receding back into the ocean and into the incoming waves (Harris 15).
Most injuries, and deaths, occur from a rip current when swimmers panic and thrash around in the water trying to fight the flow of the rip current. Successful navigation of a rip current occurs when a swimmer remains calm and swims parallel to the beach, through the narrowest part of the rip current. Once out of the rip current, turn and head for the shoreline and safety.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/akq/rip/Image2.gif
Works Cited:
Diveguy43 (Director). (2012). How to Spot Rip Tides at the Beach. Video. Retrieved from http://www.y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7KyL88HFRU outube.com/watch?v=D7KyL88HFRU
Harris, T. (2013). How Rip Currents Work. Retrieved from How Stuff Works: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/rip-current.htm//science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/rip-current.htm
Rip Current. Photograph. Retrieved from: www.erh.noaa.gov/akq/rip/ripmainl.htm
Darcee Heffner